City of Shadows
by TheRavenSisters
Summary: Clary has always has always been in between worlds. She is not a Shadowhunter, and she is definitely not a mundane. She grew up in a mundane world, but she fights demons with her mom while on the run from Valentine. But when the web of lies surrounding her past begins to fall apart, Clary knows that she can never return to the way she once lived. Not in a city full of shadows.
1. Some Angel

"Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil,

… That mak'st my blood cold?"

-Julius Caesar, 4.3.l

"You've got to be kidding me," the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest. He stared down at the boy in the red zip up jacket, shaking his shaved head. "You can't bring _that_ in here."

"Aw, come on." The kid hoisted it up over his head, a wooden beam pointed at one end. "It's part of my costume."

The bouncer raised an eyebrow. "Which is what?"

The boy grinned. He was normal-enough-looking for a pandemonium, but Clary knew better.

Clary shoved her hand into her pocket and pulled out her sensor. She could feel its vibrations coursing through her fingers where she touched it dancing them up her arm. _Caught you_ Clary thought to herself. The boy in red was definitely an eidolon demon, a shape shifter. The demon was explaining something about vampires to the bouncer, most likely trying to talk his way in, but Clary wasn't listening. Her friend, Simon, had noticed the sensor and made a grab for it but Clary, with her Nephilim reflexes had whipped it out of his reach. "Why do you always carry around two phones?" he asked, digging his empty hand into his pocket.

"Um-" she stuttered without a clue how to answer. "I have-um-it's for work."

Simon raised a brow. "You don't have a job…" She racked her brain, "It's for my mom's work."

"Your _mom's_ work?"

Clary had spent her life telling lies but when put on the spot she was still no good at it

"Yeah, well, she used to give people this phone number but then- uh- I wanted a phone and she- uh- wanted a new one. But she didn't know you could get a new phone without changing your number so she gave me this phone but then I got a new one, but some people still call her on this one so I carry it around."

Simon gave her a weird look. Clary knew that she wasn't fooling him, but he was too nice to press her for more. "What does your mom do anyways?"

"She's an artist." Jocelyn was in fact an artist. It was their main source of income and how they decorated their apartment.

"Really I had _no_ idea" Simon stated, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"The ginormous collection of paint brushes never gave it away?"

Simon grinned at her and looked down at his hands. Clary had moved around all her life, never growing close to anyone besides her mom and her uncle Luke. So, her new found friendship with Simon; a mundane, was a confusing novelty. She and her mom were what they called Shadowhunters; also known as Nephilim. Supposedly, they were the 'offspring of angels and humans' but Clary had a hard time believing it. She didn't feel very angelic. According to her mother, Shadowhunters had some sort of mandate from heaven to rid the earth of all demons. She knew there was power in the world, but _unseen angels_? That was pushing it. The demons were real; those she could kill. With or without heaven.

Clary had been sheltered as a child, which prevented her from exposing herself as one of the Nephilim to Mundanes. She had been home schooled up until a little over a year ago, but she had eventually wanted to be part of the mundane world she had been forced to live in. Her mother, albeit reluctantly, had agreed.

Clary could remember when her mother explained to her why she could see what no one else could. She had been around five at the time, when her mother told her never to tell anyone about warlocks or faeries, because only Clary, her mom, and Luke could see them. At first, she had been thrilled to be part of such a secret. But as time passed, she realized that having secrets meant having no one to share them with. It was later that she learned about their entire race and past. Clary's mother Jocelyn had fled from the Shadowhunter life after she had been in, what Clary now understood as, an abusive relationship with a man named Valentine; he had had an obsession with purifying the Shadowhunter race and Jocelyn discovered that he had secretly conducted horrible, tortuous experiments on downworlders; keeping vampires covered in holy water, or keeping werewolves covered in silver and melting the skin off of them in the hopes of discovering new ways in which to strengthen himself and his race. When Jocelyn found out that she was pregnant with Clary, she realized that he would not find experimenting on downworlders and himself enough, he would attempt to experiment on his child too. She could not raise a child around such a monster and so she decided to run from Valentine and leave life as one of the Nephilim behind. Seeing her flight as a terrible betrayal, he killed himself and Jocelyn's parents by setting their house aflame. As if losing her parents wasn't enough, leaving the Shadowhunter life to live with Mundanes is illegal in Nephilim society and punishable by death. So they avoided Shadowhunters and Downworlders alike, lest they be found and brought before the law.

Simon, noticing her distraction, dropped the subject and followed her vacant stare to the demon. "You think he's cute," Simon elbowed her. "Don't you?" Clary flashed a cheeky half smile in his direction but didn't answer. She looked back at the demon, definitely a shape shifter. The monster, looking like a boy, walked past the bouncer and through the door, toting behind him a long, supposedly foam spike. Clary attempted to track him through the crowd, but she soon lost sight of him amid the sea of colorful hair extensions and metallic corsets.

Clary fidgeted with the long black sleeves she wore to hide her runes, tattoos that grant a Shadowhunter new powers and gifts. She wouldn't have minded people thinking she had tattoos, but runes faded and disappeared. Mundanes weren't used to vanishing tattoos.

They eventually made it past the bouncer, into the club. Clary immediately scanned the crowd for the Eidolon; not spotting, it she began to feel a touch of panic rising in her chest. Maybe it had already hauled some poor Mundie away for a feast. Simon followed her around the club, making comments about the DJ's quality work, his cross-dressing habits, and his tendency to sleep with her mom. Clary could tell that he was just trying to get her attention and she would have loved to give it to him, but some things were more important. Clary spotted the monster. He was prowling through the crowd on his way towards a gorgeous girl in a white dress, who was making eyes at him. She would have enjoyed trying to draw the stunning girl, but just then she was on a mission. She turned to Simon. "I'm going to talk to him," she shouted over the pulsating music. "I'll be back." then she slipped between black leather clad dancers and disappeared into the smoke of the dance floor, before Simon had a chance to say anything. The girl in white was smiling flirtatiously over at the demon, making her way to a storage closet. _Run!_ Clary wanted to scream at the girl.

Clary slowed her pace before the monster saw her running. Once she was close enough, she put a hand on his shoulder and swung him around. His violent, green eyes flashed and his face contorted into a twisted sneer that disappeared as he regained his control. Apparently, he did not enjoy being interrupted. She twined her arms around his neck, and in desperation leaned in close to whisper "Wanna go somewhere private?" he blinked at her in surprise, before looking back at the girl in white, who was now staring at them in shock with just a dash of horror. He turned back to Clary as if to say no. She panicked, if he said no she would have to attack him here in the club. Without another foreseeable option, she grabbed his face, pulled it towards her own, and kissed him.

She tried to make it a good kiss, but she was too busy choking down the bile that rose in her throat. Her mother would not be pleased if she ever found out about this one. Pulling away, Clary reached behind her and opened a metal door marked NO ADMITTANCE – STORAGE in red paint, grabbed his hand, and pulled him in after her.

Once they were both inside the closet, Clary shut the door. He grabbed her waist and pulled her closer. "What's your name?" he asked in a low whisper.

"It doesn't matter."

She tried to spin away, but his hand caught in the fabric of her dress, pulling it off her shoulder revealing a faded iratze. His eyes widened as he realized what a mistake he had made "you-"she cut him off. "Me." Reaching towards the hem of her dress in a lightning fast motion, she pulled a dagger out of her concealed thigh sheath and stabbed him. It hit him right above the collar bone, piercing skin and muscle, and pinned him to the wall. She followed up by plunging another dagger into the opposite shoulder, making it impossible for him to move without enduring almost intolerable pain. She then reached into her well used lime tote and drew out another knife, bigger than the two daggers. This, she held against his throat, drawing a thin line of blood. "I'm going to enjoy this." There was a loud thump against the door. She jumped and left a trail of blood across the demons chin. The bang came again and the door was blown clear off its hinges. Standing in the door frame were the foggy shapes of two men –no boys in all black leather and the girl in white. Clary attempted to conceal the knife behind her slim frame but there was nothing she could do to hide the bleeding demon pinned against the wall.

They all stood frozen for a few seconds before one boy shouted. "What the Hell!?" he had dark, faintly greased hair and sloping shoulders that suggested he slouched. On first glance, Clary thought he was rather skinny, until she looked closer, noticing the tight corded muscles on his arms.

"She seems to have the situation under control." stated the other boy, sounding a bit impressed. This one had longish hair that reflected the light, like spun gold; he held a slender sword that seemed to glow in the darkness. Both boys had thick black tattoos along their arms. Wait, Clary recognized the symbols. They were runes. Her hand tightened around the knife behind her back as she felt her body freeze in fear.

Clary knew who they were. They were Shadowhunters.


	2. Lies, Always Lies

_Author's Note: Sorry to those of you that were alerted to the new chapter only to find that there was no new chapter, We uploaded it but then realized that our tracked changes were still there. So after a bit of editing it is now ready to go. Enjoy!_

"And, after all, what is a lie?

'Tis but the truth in masquerade."

-Lord Byron

The Blonde one whirled around to the girl in white "I thought you said she was going to die!" he ran an exasperated hand through his golden curls.

"Jace," She protested, her eyes never leaving Clary. "I thought she was a Mundie!"

Jace turned back to look at Clary. "But you're not a Mundie are you?"

"I-um" Clary scrambled.

"I mean, most Mundanes don't invite strange men into dark storage closets, only to pin them to the wall using the assorted knives they just happened to be carrying on their person."

"I-I guess not" Clary stuttered out

Jace took a step towards her and she tightened her grip on the knife; "One could go so far as to say someone who did something like that was Nephilim. Judging by the fact that the strange man happens to be a demon."

Clary couldn't see the point of lying to them; they had already guessed what she was. "One could."

The brunette boy pulled in front of Jace, "We didn't know that there were other Shadowhunters in the area".

"Just passing by"

"Really?" he asked "where are you from?" They looked at her warily, as if not sure whether to trust her or not; quite right too.

"Uh-"

Just then the demon tore through the knives pinning him to the wall and launched himself at Jace, who crouched and pulled a knife from his boot. The creature over shot his aim and smashed into the wall resulting in an echoing thump. Jace swung back around towards it, wielding his glowing sword. Clary could see the other two Nephilim leaping to action and she instinctively reached down and pulled her third throwing knife from its sheath, flinging it end over end until it struck home in the monster's throat. Black ichor spread across his red jacket like ink. She watched as the pathetic thing died and crumbled into black dust, his blood disappearing along with him. Clary felt a small surge of gratitude towards the demon for interrupting the inquiry. The idea of feeling that way towards an eidolon of all things brought a smile to her lips.

Jace halted his avenging rage and turned towards her, looking almost affronted. The girl in white rolled her eyes at him. "Don't be so surprised that a girl can kill things as well as you."

Jace turned towards her, his hands on his hips "it's not that she's a girl, Isabelle, I do live with you. She just looked so happy about it. Blood thirsty little thing."

Jace flicked his indignant glare to Clary as if testing her reaction. His eyes glinted the way that cat's do in the light, he moved toward Clary and quickly spanned the small distance between them. They were just a little too close for Clary's comfort when he said in a low voice, "You're pretty good with that knife." She could feel his breath on her skin as she realized that this is the type of thing someone would do if they were going to kiss you. The thought made her choke, not that Jace wouldn't be a very nice person to kiss; she just didn't have any clue what to do or how to act. She gulped. She was suddenly very aware of the look in his eyes and the quarter smile on his lips. She bit her own.

"Uh, yeah" was all she could muster.

"Well you were _brilliant_." His face broke into a grin, "You can ruin my mojo anytime." He winked and spun on his heel back towards the other Shadowhunters.

Clary was confused, was that supposed to be suggestive? She really didn't have any clue what he was getting at, it's not like he had any real magic. Maybe he really did just like her fighting. "Sure" Clary started to loosen her grip on the knife. They, at least that boy, seem _excited_ to see her. Flicking her eyes away from the Shadowhunters, she noticed that Simon had appeared outside the doorway.

"Clary!" he called out above the music "What the hell?" She turned away from the others; hopefully they had their invisibility runes on. He came into the closet, staring at the door lying on the floor "What the hell?" he had incredibly bewildered look on his face. "You kissed some _random_ guy, pulled him into a _supply closet_, where the door got _knocked off its hinges!" _He waved his hands with each new offence he listed, it made Clary wince just to think about how she was going to get out of this one. Simon, realizing how accusatory he sounded, put a hand on his hip; imitating her mother. "Do you care to explain your actions Clarissa?" She laughed and Simon grinned. "But seriously Clary, What the hell is going on?"

Clary adjusted her sleeve to cover back up the runes "I don't know what to tell you Simon" she moved her feet apart and tried to look tough, hopefully he would just think that she was really badass. She could see from his expression that he wasn't buying it so she dropped the persona. "Look, I just wanted to try something new and do something a little risky for once! I never do anything remotely interesting and I thought it would be fun. Nothing happened and it wasn't going to so just calm down!"

Simon raised his eyebrow "uh-_huh, _and what about _the door_?"

"Ahhh that was kinda weird" She feigned confusion. "A bunch of creepy druggies busted in; knocking the door down for no apparent reason and then when they saw us they just sort of left and what's-his-face left after them. Guess it kinda ruined the mood."

Jace, who was still in the room, harrumphed when she described him as a creepy druggie.

"Ok then…" Simon trailed off.

"You now know as much as I do." Clary shrugged and put her arm around Simon, pulling him out of the closet. She was really out doing herself this evening.

"I still can't believe you pulled some guy into a closet for a make out sesh!"

"Oh come off it!" she shoved him away from her and punched him in the shoulder.

Jace watched them leave from the shadows, arm in arm. He smiled to himself when she punched the mundane. He watched them talk animatedly back and forth as they traveled through the dry ice clouds and the swarms of people dancing. The spinning spotlight landed on them for a moment and the yellow light lit the girl's hair as if the was on fire. He had noticed how beautiful she was the second he had burst through the door. He noticed her figure underneath her dress, her curly hair, her elegant face and the way she had looked at him when he had come so close to her.

He felt a hand on his shoulder as Isabelle came up beside him. "Why is she travelling with the mundane kid?"

"I don't know, tour guide?"

"Can't be a very good tour guide if she has to lie to him every time she kills something."

"I don't know any better than you."

Alec came towards him too. "Let's go."

But Jace didn't want to. He wanted to stay there and watch her walk out the door, arm in arm with some Mundie.


End file.
